1000+ images about Salford Lads Club on Pinterest | Salford, The smiths and Manchester The Smiths - Lyrical perfection. If they ever reformed (which they won't) I would sell vital organs and limbs to see them See More BBC - Manchester - Features - Bike riders of the world unite You are in: Manchester > Features > Places > Bike riders of the world unite Salford Lads Club Bike riders of the world unite Fans of The Smiths have been flocking to Salford Lads club ever since it featured on the inside cover of their classic album, The Queen Is Dead, so it's no surprise that when they heard the roof lead had been stolen, they sprang into action. Bigmouth bikes again - The bike ride takes in Iron Bridge, Southern Cemetery, Holy Name Church, Strangeways Prison and many more Smiths-related landmarks - On returning to the Lads club, riders will be entertained by tribute band, The Smyths, and buy an ice-cream from the vintage 'Everyday is like Sundae' van What might raise an eyebrow is exactly how they have decided to help.

Led by organisers Phill Gatenby and Ruth Martin, a bunch of Smiths fans will be taking a sponsored bike ride round some of the landmarks mentioned by Morrissey in his lyrics, as Ruth explained to BBC Radio Manchester’s Terry Christian. "We’re going to be passing by Morrissey’s old house on Kings Road in Stretford, then we’re going to the cemetery gates on the cemetery in Chorlton, down to Holy Name Church on Oxford Road, up to Manchester Ritz, but we start and finish at the Lads Club. There’s going to be events on at the Club afterwards to welcome us home." Ruth Martin at Salford Lads Club (c) Marc Provins The idea for the bike ride comes from a Smiths video, for Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before, which saw Morrissey leading a group of teenage lookalikes on a cycle around Manchester and Salford, though, as Ruth points out, even the crime itself has a Smiths link.

"It’s weird because they were lifting the lead of the roof of the Holy Name Church in the song Vicar In A Tutu, and now that’s what has happened to the Lads Club." Those fans wanting to get involved with the ride can do so by making a £5 entry donation at the Salford Lads Club website, and while everyone is welcome, it’s worth remembering that it is quite a distance to cycle, as Ruth found out. "I just did the Whalley Range to Ordsall leg for the photo shoot on my bike outside the Lads Club and that killed me, so I’m going to get in training now." Bigmouth Bikes Again takes place on Sunday 30 September.

Those wishing to take part should contact the organisers for more details (and a sponsorship form) at email: bigmouthbikes@fsmail.net last updated: 03/09/07 Hendrix to Oasis tourist trail: putting England's rock locations on the map | UK news | The Guardian Hendrix to Oasis tourist trail: putting England's rock locations on the map Officialdom spots visitor potential 50 years after the rock'n'roll revolution Share on Messenger Close For decades the done thing has been to bury Britain's rock heritage rather than praise it. Two of the country's most famous music venues - the Cavern Club in Liverpool and Manchester's Hacienda - ended their lives under a wrecking ball. But the era of official neglect is over. A new map of England's rock and pop heritage aims to celebrate nearly 200 destinations linked to famous musicians, from Britpop boozer The Good Mixer in Camden to Jimi Hendrix's 1960s London address to Knebworth House, venue for Queen's last concert.

Some of the places on the map, unveiled today by the national tourism agency VisitBritain, are existing tourist attractions such as Salford Lads Club, where Smiths fans go to recreate the moment the band posed outside the club for the inside cover of their classic album The Queen is Dead. Others have a more tangential connection. Hatfield House is included on the basis that Adam and the Ants filmed the Stand and Deliver video there. There was internal controversy over the inclusion of some places associated with famous deaths, such as the scene of T Rex frontman Marc Bolan's fatal car crash in Barnes, south-west London, and the spot in Wiltshire where American rockabilly performer Eddie Cochran died in a road accident. "There was some humming and hawing over that, but I think it would be churlish not to recognise that there are people making pilgrimages to these sites," said Laurence Bresh, general manager for England marketing at VisitBritain. It crowns a resurgent 12 months for British pop. Despite turmoil in the industry, homegrown music is in fashion and bands such as Snow Patrol and Razorlight helped British artists grab a 60% share of the album market last year.

The map is intended to boost internal tourism in a year which is expected to see increased interest in rock tourism. It is the 50th annniversary year of the Cavern Club, which was rebuilt next door after the original was demolished, and also sees the return of Glastonbury. There are plans for a map covering the whole of Britain, which will be aimed at an international audience. "We know there's huge interest in locations connected to popular culture," Mr Bresh said. "Everybody knows about tourists going to Liverpool to visit the Beatles locations, but it's much wider than that. People like to see the places that inspired musicians - Oasis is the obvious one, Berwick Street [in Soho], where they shot the cover for (What's the Story) Morning Glory." The aim was to be as exhaustive as possible while keeping to the rule that each location had to have something tangible for fans to see, even if only a commemorative plaque. The printed version of the map features 113 locations while the website at has 190, along with audio samples. Some of the more offbeat inclusions on the list have prompted raised eyebrows among rock pundits.

Paul Rees, editor of Q, said: "If you're going to set something up that's a list of the most important music sites in Britain and preserve them, great. But if you start going to places where an Adam and the Ants video was filmed, that's just kitsch." The map marks an official endorsement of pop music unthinkable just a few decades ago. Conor McNicholas, editor of NME, said: "I think there is definitely a shift going on. The reason for that shift is that we are 50 years away from the great rock'n'roll explosion and the people who were part of that are now part of the establishment, and are in a position to do something about it." But inclusion on the rock map is no guarantee of a venue's future. One of the listed locations is Hammersmith Palais, the west London nightclub name-checked by the Clash which now faces the threat of demolition. "It's a tragedy that it's going," Mr McNicholas said.

"Not just because its tremendously important venue that's been immortalised in song lyrics by the Clash, but it's an important size of venue for the London scene." The Palais, where U2 and the Sex Pistols have played, is due to be replaced by offices and a restaurant. Britain's rock landmarks 1. Liverpool Erected in 1974, Arthur Dooley's Statue of the Fab Four portrayed them as plastic children's dolls. The McCartney figure mysteriously disappeared 2. Widnes station Paul Simon wrote Homeward Bound here on his 1965 tour, while waiting for a train back to London 3. Salford Lads Club Smiths fans from around the world have made the pilgrimage to this building, which provided the background for the band on the inside cover of The Queen is Dead 4. Macclesfield crematorium Born and bred in Macclesfield, Ian Curtis from Joy Division was buried at the crematorium here in 1980 5. The Grapes, Sheffield Arctic Monkeys' first gig was at this pub, Sheffield city centre, June 2003 6.

The Red Lion, Stoke-on-Trent Robbie Williams spent his teenage years above the bar of this pub in Burslem run by his parents 7. Severn estuary mudflats Cover sleeve of Echo and the Bunnymen's album Heaven Up Here was shot here 8. Glastonbury Home of the annual music festival and occasional mudbath 9. Yes Tor This picturesque corner of Dartmoor featured on the sleeve of Yes's 1978 album Tormato 10. Isle of Wight festival Legendary, with those held between 1968 and 1970 seen as Europe's equivalent to Woodstock 11. Hammersmith Palais Immortalised by the Clash in their classic fusion of punk and reggae White Man in Hammersmith Palais in 1978 12. Abbey Road studios, London In 1969 the Beatles stepped outside Abbey Road studios in St John's Wood for a photoshoot which Beatles fans have tried to recreate ever since by walking across the zebra crossing 13. 23 Brook Street Blue plaque marks the 1960s residence of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix in central London 14.

Chalk Farm tube station Madness reflected their Camden roots when they were photographed for the cover of their album Absolutely here 15. Waterloo Bridge "Dirty old river, must you keep rolling ..." Ray Davies paid homage to the Thames and London with the classic Kinks track Waterloo Sunset 16. Berwick Street, London Oasis chose this central London street for the cover of their classic Britpop album (What's the Story) Morning Glory BBC - Inside Out - North West - Salford - music city Inside Out You are in: Inside Out > North West > Salford - music city Rocking all over the world - Salford. Salford - music city Liverpool is arguably the pop capital of the world. But now another North West city - Salford - is celebrating its place in musical history with a special rock music map which illustrates the city's role in shaping popular music. Once upon a time Manchester and Liverpool stole all the headlines when it came to the popular music scene in the North West. For a long time Salford remained in the shadows of these two North West musical giants. Now the city is staking a claim to its role in music history.

Musical mystery tour The music map of Salford has been commissioned by the city council to help music fans find their way around the many sites of historical interest. Salford's Happy Monday Paul Ryder. The Salford Music Map has been created and curated by author and TV producer David Nolan. He is known for finding out the truth behind some of rock music's most enduring myths. David Nolan explains why he felt it was time Salford was given back its rightful place in musical history. "When Tony Wilson passed away just over a year ago, the headlines read "Death of Mr Manchester", says David. Salford music tour * Lower Broughton Road - Howard Devoto made plans for the famous Lesser Free Trade Hall gig featuring the Sex Pistols. * Paul and Shaun Ryder of Happy Mondays hail from Little Hulton. * The Charlatans - singer Tim Burgess spent the first nine years of his life in Boothstown. * James Henry Avenue, Ordsall - the childhood home of CSNY's Graham Nash. * Salford Quays - former workplace of Mark E Smith. * Sunningdale Drive, Irlam - childhood home of Russell Watson. * Singleton Road, Broughton Park - home to Nico.

* Kingston Close, High Broughton - family home of 10cc's Garham Gouldman. * Salford Lads' Club - photographed for The Smiths' album cover. * Blue Print Studios - Justin Timberlake and the legendary Smokey Robinson recorded here. "Tony would have been the first person to take the headline writer to one side, peer at them over his glasses and say, 'actually darling, I'm from Salford'. "It's a separate city. It just happens to be geographically challenged in the sense that it sits next to Manchester. "In the mid-90s a music map of Manchester was produced - yes, I pinched the idea. "Guess who was on it? Tony Wilson, Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays... all Salford. "Even the famed Sex Pistols' gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976 was organised from a flat on Lower Broughton Road, Salford. "Manchester is just a convenient branding device. "It's a bit like when you go on holiday and someone asks you where you're from. "It's often easier to say Manchester rather than Salford or Stockport. Saves time.

"But it would be nice if the facts were put straight. Salford's cheerleader - Tony Wilson. "As a city, Manchester has had a very good run, so just for once, it's reasonable for Salford to get its due credit. "As Tony Wilson said when he introduced Joy Division to television viewers for the first time in 1978: "They're a Manchester band apart from the guitarist who's from Salford. Very important distinction that." Taking the tour Inside Out sent Nigel Pivaro on the trail of Salford's musical past. Nigel believes that Manchester has been claiming credit for Salford music for too long and it’s about time the balance was redressed. Sound of the city - Tim Burgess. His journey starts at the site of the former home of Ewan Maccoll, a protest singer and political activist who found himself under the surveillance of MI5 during the Second World War. Ewan is the father of the late Kirsty Maccoll – herself a successful singer songwriter - and wrote more than 300 songs, amongst them Salford’s unofficial anthem "Dirty Old Town".

Nigel also visits the childhood home of his former schoolmates Paul and Shaun Ryder, who went on to form Happy Mondays. And he discovers that rather than being from Northwich, as is often perceived, The Charlatans' Tim Burgess is a fellow Salfordian too. Long live Salford No musical trip around the city would be complete without a stop off at the Salford Lads' Club. It was made famous by The Smiths who posed for a photograph outside the building which was then used in their Queen is Dead album. Salford star - Peter Hook of New Order. After having his picture taken outside, Nigel toured the special "Smiths" room which boasts photographs and memories of fans who have come from all over the world to pay homage to their favourite band. The map accompanies an exhibition at Salford Art Gallery, where Nigel met up with former Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook who as a Salfordian is wholeheartedly supporting the project. "We get a bit overlooked which is obviously something I get very annoyed about," says Hook.

"A lot of people in Salford were very important in starting my musical career so I'm very happy to be involved." It is hoped that the music tour will go some way to putting Salford on the international music map. Salford's best known musical legend, Tony Wilson, would have been proud... Get your music map... Music fans can sign up to receive their free copy by emailing info@visitsalford.info - provide your name and address and where you heard about the map, stating 'Salford Music Map request' in the subject line. Photos are copyright and courtesy of Katherine MacFarlane. The Smiths get a Twitter account - NME NME 11:35 pm - Apr 5, 2016 0shares It'll be run by the label - will it be just marketing? Getty Warner Music have set up a new Twitter account for The Smiths , and got it verified. The account has yet to Tweet, and seems most likely to be used to promote existing records, but the existence of a new Twitter account for the Morrissey fronted band almost 30 years after their demise in 1987 could be worth keeping an eye on.

The Smiths have never come particularly close to a reunion since their split, with Johnny Marr telling XFM in 2009: “I think we were offered 50 million dollars for three … possibly five shows.” Rare tracks by the band appeared a few months ago on a fan site, including an early demo of ‘Never Had No One Ever’. The songs appeared on the website Morrissey-solo.com. Among the collection were an early demo of ‘Never Had No One Ever’, from a 1986 recording session for ‘The Queen Is Dead’. Getty Salford Gallery The Lowry revealed plans to celebrate thirty years of ‘The Queen Is Dead’ last week, displaying rare photographs and playing the band’s music as a backdrop to interviews with ordinary people named Smith. ‘The Queen Is Dead’ was released in June 1986, and features an image of The Smiths taken outside Salford Lads Club on the inside gatefold cover of the vinyl. While the album was recorded in Farnham in Surrey, Morrissey is known to be particularly fond of the Queen Is Dead image, and the Salford site remains something of a pilgrimage site for fans of the Mancunians.

Stephen Wright – who took the Lads Club image – is to hold an exhibition at the Lowry, featuring the famous image alongside some other ‘seldom seen’ images in a show that opens on April 9. Song Stories Lowry exhibition for photographer who took THAT iconic picture of The Smiths - Manchester Evening News News Lowry exhibition for photographer who took THAT iconic picture of The Smiths 20 of Stephen Wright's images from Salford Lads Club photoshoot will be on show - alongside a 'sound artwork' featuring stories from Smiths fans in Salford Share Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email It was a bitter November afternoon in 1985, and almost dusk. Young photographer, Stephen Wright, shot five reels of film with 36 pictures on each, with a £150 Nikon camera. One of those pictures is now in the National Portrait Gallery. The black and white image of The Smiths is now regarded as one of the most iconic in rock history - and it put Salford Lads Club, in Coronation Street, on the map.

It was used on the inner-sleeve of the band’s album, The Queen is Dead, which was released 30 years ago. Now a new exhibition at The Lowry arts centre at Salford Quays in association with the Manchester Evening News, will showcase Stephen’s work. Stephen said: “That photo of The Smiths was taken on a murky and cold Salford day in 1985. They were at the peak of their success and I’m so proud that the image has become recognisable worldwide. Iconic photographs of The Smiths, by Stephen Wright, which will feature in a new exhibition at The Lowry "It’s funny really - I remember developing the shot in a makeshift darkroom in my bedroom - using chemicals that I kept in old Corona pop drinks bottles.” Stephen had previously photographed the band at Manchester’s Free Trade Hall in 1984. He climbed the light rigging to get those shots, which included gladiola hanging out of Morrissey’s jeans pocket and another of him swirling a bunch of flowers above his head. Those pictures impressed the singer so much, Stephen got a call from the band’s label, Rough Trade, to do the shoot for the album.

Stephen modestly says the Lads Club pictures were ‘shot by a fan learning to be a photographer’. He was one man with a Nikon FE camera, sharing a house with friends in Longsight, and his dark room was his bedroom. Photographer Stephen Wright who took the iconic picture of The Smiths outside Salford Lads Club Stephen said: “It’s not the picture that is classic - it’s the band that are classic. It’s a combination of Salfordian folklore and the greatest band of the 80s.” But Morrissey was impressed by the pictures. He sent Stephen a card saying: “A sweeter set of photos were never taken.” Twenty of Stephen’s photographs will be exhibited from April 9th. MORE: Fascinating archive pictures of Manchester in 1986 Michael Simpson, director of visual art at The Lowry, said: “The Smiths are one of the most influential British guitar groups of all time - and Stephen’s shot outside Salford’s Lads Club is how they are remembered to this day.

“His collection is a must-see for any Smiths fan.” The Lowry is also presenting ‘30 Days of The Smiths’ a sound artwork that blends the music of the band with the stories of real Smiths families living in Salford today. Read More Morrissey's bad sex award Stephen has photographed some of the most famous names in the music industry, including Madonna, Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Prince, and James Brown. Last year he donated the rights on his classic Smiths photographs to The Lads Club for a year raising £60,000 after they used it on a charity T-shirt. The money was used to send teenagers on a trip to visit Red Cloud High School in the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. The club made Stephen an honourary member. Limited edition photographs by Stephen are available from Think you know The Smith? Try our 'what's the next line' Morrissey lyrics quiz... Question -1 of 10 Score -0 of 0 Fifteen minutes with you...

David Cameron's Tories are trying to claim anti-Thatcherite rockers such as The Smiths and Paul Weller as their own | Music | The Guardian Share on Messenger Close On January 10 this year, David Cameron was in the north-west, visiting a youth project in Salford, Greater Manchester. On the face of it, the trip chimed with his passion for "social enterprise", but as Cameron well knew, his destination was a local holy-of-holies: Salford Lads Club, the local Victorian landmark where the Smiths were photographed in 1986 for the inside cover of their finest album, The Queen Is Dead. In PR terms, the visit was thus a "twofer": a chance for Cameron not only to push the new compassionate Toryism, but to once again yak on about one of his supposedly favourite rock groups and thus remind us that the Conservative party is now groovier than anyone could have imagined. The plan was for him to have his photo taken in front of the building à la the Smiths, but the local Labour party got wind of the script, and dispatched a pack of activists to foil him.

Their placards featured such slogans as "Salford Lads not Eton snobs" and "Oi Dave - Eton Toffs' club is 300 miles that way", and they would not be moved, so Cameron went home without his snap. Just under a fortnight ago, Salford's MP, Hazel Blears, the doughty secretary of state for communities and local government, recounted the tale at Labour's spring conference. It was, she said, "a story from a great city". When her comrades had got wind of Cameron's plans, they had been "incensed" by the cheek of a Cameron visit to an area that had "80% youth unemployment when the Tories were in power". They had spent "all night" getting ready to protest. "And on the day," she said, "Cameron was bundled in the back door, and bundled out of the back door. And he never got his photograph!

And that night, I couldn't resist it: I sent him a photo of me outside Salford Lad's Club" - and here she laughed like a triumphal drain - "and I wrote, 'Dear Dave, Sorry you didn't get the picture, all the best from Salford.' And when I saw him at the next PMQs [Prime Minister's Questions], he said, 'Hazel - I will get my photograph.' And I said, 'Not on my watch, you won't, Dave.'" So, there it was: class conflict, the Thatcher legacy and much more besides, all thrashed out to a classic soundtrack - though just to shift the battle somewhere else again, it was only a matter of weeks before Cameron was going on about his fondness for songs of politicised rage written by the young Paul Weller, and Anne McElvoy of the London Evening Standard was talking up his membership of something called "the Jam generation". And so, in the manner of a headache that is slowly getting more painful, the question came up once again: what on earth is going on?

In the two and a bit years since he became Conservative leader - in fact, since he crash-landed in frontline politics circa 2004 - Cameron has taken a leaf out of the Tony Blair manual, and underlined his iconoclastic approach to politics by going on and on about the music he likes. The names he has dropped have included the Nevadan indie-rockers the Killers ("very good and quite energetic"), the Georgia-born songstress Katie Melua ("cheesy", but also "brilliant"), and the snore-inducing sub-Coldplay troupe Snow Patrol ("excellent"). The iPod bought for him in 2005 by his wife Samantha apparently includes music by Johnny Cash, U2, the reggae maestros Sly and Robbie, and the rotund guitar-pop quartet the Magic Numbers. When he was on Desert Island Discs in June 2006, his selections included tunes by Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd. Most of the above names are either avowedly apolitical, bereft of any substantial content or in thrall to the Bono school of messianic non-politics, but some of the music Cameron affects to like sits in a rather more awkward place.

He praises the Smiths for their "brilliant" lyrics; while he was at Eton, he says the music of the Jam "meant a lot"; his initial shortlist for Desert Island Discs included Kirsty MacColl's version of A New England, written by Billy Bragg. At one time or another, all of them were leaders of a subculture that pitted a good deal of British rock music against the party Cameron now leads, but he swats away that incongruity with the same blithe confidence he has used to remarket the Tories as zealous environmentalists and friends of the poor. "I don't see why the left should be the only ones allowed to listen to protest songs," he says, and that seems to be that. Now, it is obviously nobody's place to tell anyone what they can and cannot listen to, but you have to ask: if the Cameron scenario was replayed on the opposite side of the political spectrum, how weird would that be?

There isn't much in the way of pro-Tory popular music (aside from, say, Hello Maggie, sung by the crooner Vince Hill and latter-day Morrisons poster-girl Lulu in 1979 to the tune of Hello Dolly: "Hello, Maggie/Well, hello, Maggie/Now you're really on the road to No 10"), but if there were, would anyone on the left be listening to it? Cameron's fondness for the left-aligned music of yesteryear surely speaks volumes not just about the modern frenzy of political cross-dressing, but also the way we now listen to music. It is as if all those songs have been retrospectively robbed of their political charge and rendered kitsch - just more stuff to be stuck on the great collective playlist, and shuffled beyond any meaning. When I put in a call to Paul Weller, he mentions Cameron's alleged fondness for his old songs, and expresses a fatalistic puzzlement. "It's like, which bit didn't he get?" he says. "It's strange, but the whole nature of politics has shifted, hasn't it?

The stark contrasts of Thatcherism and socialism have gone: you can't really tell who's Brown or Cameron or anyone else. I don't know what Cameron's for or against, really. Even with that div who's running for mayor - Boris Johnson - there's some things he's said that I've found myself agreeing with, like bringing back the Routemaster buses. You sort of think, 'Hang on - I'm agreeing with a Tory twat.'" When I mention his residual feelings about the long years of Thatcherism, however, out it all comes. "I think they were absolute fucking scum - especially Thatcher, who I think should be shot as a traitor to the people. I still think that, and nothing will ever change my opinion. We're still feeling the effects of what they did to the country now, and probably always will: the whole breakdown of communities, trade unions, the working class - the dismantling of lots of things." And if I had suggested in 1981 or 82 that there were ardent Tories coming to Jam concerts, what would he have thought? "I'd have been really, really surprised. I think I pretty much nailed where I was at to the mast.

But people come to gigs for different reasons: it isn't necessarily about what the person on stage is singing. But at the same time, you do think, 'Well, maybe this'll change their minds.'" I mention a cue-card that featured in the video for the Jam's 1982 single Town Called Malice, which featured the slogan "If we ain't getting through to you, you obviously ain't listening". "How prophetic that was," he says, drily. As Weller attests, the 80s were indeed polarised times, during which the implicit political divide embodied by the cold war was firmed up by arguably the most ideologically driven government Britain has ever seen. As Cameron himself has acknowledged, there was "a big gulf between left and right. You were either for CND or Nato, privatisation or state ownership of industry, cutting taxes and setting people free or high rates of marginal tax, for the trade unions or for trade union reform. It seemed to me we made a choice on those sorts of grounds." We did indeed, and musicians were no exception. The Tories' 18 years of government gave rise to an absolute mountain of anti-Conservative music.

Thatcher-hatred, lest we forget, ran so wide and deep that in 1985, the Labour party announced the creation of Red Wedge, the loose artistic-cum-musical project that found some of the era's stars awkwardly standing in close proximity to Neil Kinnock. By the mid-80s, anti-Tory ire had cohered into a veritable counterculture, which came with pretty clearly defined beliefs. Groups played benefits for such causes as the striking miners, the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and anyone else laid low by the sudden hegemony of the free-market right. One of my fondest memories of the era is of a long, drunken afternoon listening to bands - including, as I recall, the great 80s annoyance that was Wet Wet Wet - at an event in central Manchester called "Jamming for Jobs" (we waited, but no jobs arrived). Looking back, it is easy to cringe - and when it comes to a lot of the music, time has inevitably not been kind.

Veteran Red Wedger Billy Bragg is still pigeonholed as "a political singer-songwriter", and his oeuvre contains plenty of anti-Tory protest music, but it is his beautifully turned love songs that have weathered best. There is a song by Paul Weller's post-Jam vehicle the Style Council about the Youth Training Scheme, which is better than its subject-matter suggests, but not among their more fondly loved material. For reasons I cannot quite explain, I retain a liking for the ultra-left trio the Redskins, whose stock in trade was spirited soul pastiches with doctrinaire leftwing lyrics (eg "Russia sparked the fires in 1917/First workers' revolution in history"), but I am probably in a minority. But in among it all, there was some great art. One thinks, for example, of Bragg's soaringly poetic lament for the postwar consensus, Between the Wars, a top 20 hit in 1985; or Town Called Malice, Weller's bone-chilling portrait of a Britain laid waste by the early Thatcherite blitz, and revived as a signifier for post-industrial decline by the makers of the film Billy Elliot.

While we are here, we should also go back to the Thatcher period's opening months, and Eton Rifles, in which Weller imagines the class war being fought out at the titular school's gates, and a clarion call going out to what remains of the proletariat: "Sup up your beer, and collect your fags/There's a row going on, down near Slough." Inevitably, the wrong side loses: "All that rugby puts hairs on your chest," sings Weller. "What chance have you got against a tie and a crest?" Cameron says he remembers listening to Eton Rifles ("I was one," he says), which leads you to wonder: did it not cause him and his pals even a faint pang of unease? When it comes to Cameron's supposedly beloved Smiths, younger readers might want to factor out Morrissey's recent strange views about immigration and his all-round post-Smiths embrace of a crabby kind of small-C conservatism, and think instead about the themes - republicanism, vegetarianism, the rejection of paid employment, you name it - that implicitly put the Smiths at 90 degrees to their time.

In January 1986, Morrissey's creative partner Johnny Marr played every date on Red Wedge's opening tour; the whole band performed when the show pitched up in Newcastle. History records that within a week, the Smiths were putting in an appearance at a Liverpool concert titled From Manchester with Love, put on in aid of the 49 Liverpudlian councillors who were facing personal financial ruin thanks to their battles over the thinly veiled cuts policy known as rate-capping (that rock groups were incensed by clashes over local government finance surely speaks volumes about the times). Streaked through the Smiths' career, more-over, were the kind of anti-Tory pronouncements that the young Cameron presumably ignored. In the wake of the IRA attack on the 1984 Conservative party conference, for example, Morrissey rather regrettably claimed that "the sorrow of the Brighton bombing is that Thatcher is still alive".

By way of pointing up his lack of remorse, his first solo album, Viva Hate, featured a particularly pointed composition entitled Margaret on the Guillotine, which ran thus: "Kind people have a wonderful dream/Margaret on the guillotine/Because people like you/Make me feel so tired/When will you die?" The song has been endlessly mentioned by those who have been querying Cameron's attachment to the Smiths, but to no avail. Just lately, he was once again presented with the words during a Guardian webchat, but batted them away with a glib flourish: "The lyrics - even the ones I disagree with - are great, and often amusing." A few months after Cameron became Tory leader, I spent a day with Billy Bragg, who had recently prepared for the worst by having his picture taken with Gordon Brown at a Fabian Society event where they were both booked to speak. "I have a waking nightmare where I hear David Cameron saying, 'I really like the Smiths, and Billy Bragg as well,'" he said. "So when the photographer said, 'It'd be great to get a photograph of you and Gordon, I suddenly sat there, thinking, 'Yes! At last!

I can send a clear message to the Cameronistas that there's absolutely no chance of them fucking coopting me. "The ground has shifted severely, from a situation where the leader of the Conservative party more or less formed my whole political outlook, to having a leader of the Conservative party who could have been in the audience at one of the gigs I did in the 1980s," he said. "That really freaks me out." Based more on a hunch than any kind of certain knowledge, Bragg has a theory that when he, the Smiths and the Redskins played a benefit for the doomed GLC in 1986, Cameron was probably in the audience. If he was, what did he make of what he heard? Perhaps he was not put off by the music's messages because he had the luxury of knowing he was on the winning side. Maybe he had had a few too many Red Stripes to care. Or perhaps he simply didn't get it.

On this score, my favourite story concerns the Cameroonian Tory MP Ed Vaizey, who recently appeared on Michael Portillo's BBC4 Thatcher documentary, The Lady's not for Spurning, talking about the Birmingham-based 80s band the Beat, whom he claims to have "adored", despite being an "ardent Thatcherite". "They had a song called Stand Down Margaret," he marvelled, before telling Portillo he assumed that everyone in Britain admired Mrs Thatcher in much the same awestruck terms as he did, so when it came to the song's target, the penny never really dropped. "I couldn't work out what they had against Princess Margaret," he said. D'oh! When I speak to him, Vaizey reels off an impressive list of his 80s leftwing favourites. As well as Bragg and his fellow Red Wedgers Madness, he recalls seeing the Redskins ("a fantastic band"), and the words "Fuck Geoffrey Howe" being bellowed from the stage; he still treasures a vinyl copy of their sole album Neither Washington Nor Moscow - strap-lined, in keeping with a Socialist Workers party slogan, "but international socialism". "I had to lead this double life," he says.

"It's hard to explain, really; some of the political messages went over my head. But I thought Thatcher was fantastic, and I was listening to a lot of bands saying she was destroying the country. I suppose I like passion, in politics and music, and these were the passionate bands who were around." Trying to get to the heart of all these contradictions, I suggest that he could blithely ignore their messages because his side of politics had the upper hand. "I think that's a very good way of looking at it," he says. "People could do all this ranting from the stage, but you knew it wasn't going to change the tide of history." To finish, I read him Weller's "scum" quote, and he takes a deep breath. "That hurts," he says. "The Jam were the band that defined my teenage years. I absolutely adored them." The New Statesman recently ran a piece by its Tory-watching columnist Tara Hamilton-Miller, in which she surveyed the alleged musical appetites of the rest of the Tory frontbench.

Most of them, she said, opted for more politically neutral stuff than their boss: William Hague is rumoured to be a Meat Loaf fan; the shadow immigration minister Damian Green saw Led Zeppelin in concert when he was 16; their schools spokesman Michael Gove pledges allegiance to Scots titans such as Simple Minds, the Proclaimers and the Blue Nile (as well as Wagner); and shadow minister for Scotland, Ben Wallace, appears to rate Aerosmith. There again, the Tory fondness for the music that once soundtracked the anti-Tory resistance of the 80s runs further than the leader's office: in the blog written by Nadine Dorries, the hard-right Tory MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, it was recently claimed that three Conservative parliamentarians were once sufficiently enamoured of the Jam to have seen them play live - Dorries herself, Vaizey, and John "Whitto" Whittingdale, a former shadow culture secretary who once served as a political researcher to Mrs Thatcher. Cameron, meanwhile, keeps on keeping on.

Last week, the Times ran a piece in which he explained a new wheeze whereby people could become an accredited "Friend" of the Conservative party by paying as much or as little as they wanted - a scheme inspired, he said, by Radiohead releasing their latest album In Rainbows online, and encouraging their public to contribute via their now-legendary "honesty box". "Radiohead are one of my favourite bands ... I hope Thom Yorke will forgive me for ripping off his idea," he wrote, and the mind once again boggled. You might think of Radiohead as the merchants of a dissenting, anticonformist worldview that has led their singer to public support for CND - but they may yet go down in history as the band who inspired a new model of Conservative party membership. So what is left? How long before Cameron or one of his allies carries off a gung-ho raid into another place they probably do not belong and admits to Sunday afternoons spent happily watching Ken Loach DVDs?

By way of cold comfort, anyone feeling troubled is hereby advised to go back to an aforementioned Weller song, and righteously bellow the lyric in the way we used to in the dread days of Tory misrule: "Hello, hooray, I'd prefer the plague/To the Eton rifles". Top 10 UK music landmarks | VisitBritain Top 10 UK music landmarks Wednesday 18 May 2011 zoocha-admin From Abbey Road to Penny Lane, Arctic Monkeys to Led Zeppelin, Land’s End to John O’Groats and from the Glastonbury Festival to T in the Park, Britain Rocks! Check out our top 10 music landmarks and find out about birthplaces and favourite hangouts of legendary rock stars, locations that inspired great music and featured on album covers, and great venues across the country.

King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow Described by NME as ‘quite possibly the finest small venue in the world’ playing a gig at the three hundred capacity King Tut's has become a seminal point in the career of an impressive array of artists: Oasis (who were famously signed by Alan McGee at the venue in 1993) to Radiohead, The Killers, The verve, Pulp, My Chemical Romance, Biffy Clyro, Manic Street Preachers and Texas plus hundreds more in between. The Mendip Hills Mendips is the childhood home of John Lennon where he composed many of his early songs. The house evokes the time he spent here during his formative years. 20 Forthlin Road was the home of the McCartney family, where the Beatles met to rehearse and where they wrote many of their early songs, including 'Love Me Do' and 'I Saw Her Standing There'. The National Trust operate combined tours to both properties, places are limited on each tour so advance booking is recommended to avoid disappointment. Abbey Road, London Abbey Road Studios is where the Beatles recorded many of their songs, including 'All You Need Is Love' and 'Love Me Do'.

Further up the road is the famous pelican crossing where the Fab Four posed for the cover of Abbey Road. The nearest tube station is St John's Wood. To get there, turn right out of St John's Wood tube station and walk down Grove End Road. Turn right onto Abbey Road and the studios are on your left, it's about a five minute walk. 23 Heddon Street, London Just off the bustle of Regent Street, in central London, is Heddon Street , where David Bowie posed for the cover of his Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album from 1972. It’s now a place of pilgrimage for fans of Bowie who travel from all over the world to recreate the cover on the same spot. Spillers Records, Cardiff Spillers is officially the oldest record shop in the world. They first opened in 1894 selling wax cylinders and gramophones, moved to the Hayes where they stayed for 60 or so years and now have a new shop in the Morgan Arcade. Spillers remains a favourite with record buyers and bands including the Manic Street Preachers.

Belfast Music Tour Take the Belfast Music Tour and see the legendary Ulster Hall where Led Zeppelin first performed Stairway to Heaven, visit Van Morrison’s birthplace and Cyprus Avenue (the tree-lined street that features in many of his songs) and learn where punk classics like Alternative Ulster and Teenage Kicks were conceived. Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Though it’s only been open since 2004, Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff has rapidly become an iconic landmark on the city’s skyline. Built from Welsh materials including slate and sustainable timber from Welsh forests, its coated metal exterior is punctured by windows that spell out ‘in these stones horizons sing’ in English and a Welsh verse meaning ‘creating truth like glass from the furnace of inspiration’. At night when the windows are lit from behind, the building looks spectacular. You can see everything here from musical theatre to rock gigs. British Music Experience, London British Music Experience (BME) at London’s 02 is the interactive attraction celebrating Britain's world-famous music industry. A combination of cutting edge audio-visual technology and coveted music memorabilia takes you on an unforgettable trip through pop.

There are also infamous, irreplaceable pieces of British music memorabilia including David Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes clown suit and Ziggy Stardust costume, Noel Gallagher’s Union Jack guitar, Roger Daltrey’s Woodstock outfit and a vintage Amy Winehouse dress. Beatles Story, Liverpool Discover the story of the Fab Four from their humble Liverpool beginnings to their world-conquering sixties success and their later solo careers. See John Lennon’s glasses, the only blue White Album, George Harrison’s first guitar and more. You’ll also experience Fab4D which takes you on a magical journey through the music of the Beatles via 3D animation and the music that helped them become the most famous group of all time. Salford lads club, Manchester, England Joy Division, New Order, Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, Oasis, Elbow: all sons of Manchester (or just outside). Manchester has produced some of the UK’s most memorable popular music but perhaps no other artist continues to inspire such devoted loyalty as Morrissey and the band he led, the Smiths.

And no Smiths pilgrimage would be complete without a visit to the Salford Lads Club , where the band were photographed for their 1986 album, The Queen Is Dead. Images via: DonkeyJacket45 , Matthew Wilkinson , informatique Photographs of The Smiths , Salford Lads Club photos By Stephen Wright , Queen is dead album sleeve photos, Salford lads club, The Smiths at the Salford Lads club Photographs of the Smiths at the Salford Lads Club and Live Shows 1984-87 “Stephen Wright’s original photograph, used for the inside gatefold of The Queen is Dead, clinches the prize for the most famous image of the Smiths” Will Woodward – The Guardian If you wish to use any of the photographs please contact stephen@wrightphoto.co.uk to arrange fees. Print , web and film or video uses all incur fees. There are images of The Smiths and various other iconic artists on the PRINT SALES tab above. All photographs are supplied unframed. Signed and editions by Stephen.

Iconic images of THE SMITHS and other artists including Prince, Miles Davis, James Brown, John Lydon – more follow Prices start at £65 – There are various sizes and editions on photographic paper. Worldwide shipping See other links below for some other sizes and options. NEW … at last the BIG SQUARES! and they look great! Limited edition signed and editioned by Stephen Discount vouchers do not apply – Worldwide shipping VERY BIG ONES – on 20×30 inch paper Edition of 25 only – contact me on stephen@wrightphoto.co.uk £1400 special order only – Worldwide shipping 30x 40 cm print on 250 gram lustre card £25 –Discount vouchers do not apply – Worldwide shipping Durutti/Tony Wilson Limited edition print of the Tony Wilson with Durutti Column used years later on the Paean to Wilson album sleeve. also portrait of Tony Wilson on his own was shot in The Hacienda dressing room in 1985. The ‘2 eyes’ photo is of Bruce and Vin – used as a BIG poster for a Durutti gig – about 29 years ago!

They are printed in one size only and in an edition of 500. The 12″ x 8″ image is printed with a white border on 11″ x 14″ paper – Cost is £150. CLICK HERE to purchase. Worldwide shipping Stephen photographed The Smiths live across 1984-87. He photographed them at several concerts which led to the session in November 1985. He photographed them at the Salford Lads for The Queen is Dead album sleeve and later shot the sign for the back sleeve of the Strangeways, Here We Come album – he sells limited edition photographs of the Smiths.These photographs of the Smiths and other artists have been used numerous times in magazines,newspapers and books. The album sleeve photograph from the Queen is dead sleeve is the the collections of the National Portrait Gallery London, the Manchester Art Gallery and the Salford Art Gallery.

Over the past thirty years, thousands of fans of the band have made the pilgrimage to recreate the photo outside the stunning red brick Edwardian building.More recently, the image of the band shivering in mid winter outside the hallowed façade of the Salford Lads Club was back in the news for rather happier reasons. Just before Christmas, the club launched a new promotional T -shirt bearing the famous image which raised some £60,000 in a year. Stephen gave the image from the session to the Lads club to raise funds for a trip for teenagers from the Salford Lads Club to visit Native Indians in South Dakota. If you wish to use any of the photographs please contact stephen@wrightphoto.co.uk to arrange fees

Question: Which band are photographed outside Salford Lads Club on the inside cover of their album 'The Queen Is Dead'?
Answer: THE SMITHS